


Choosing With Care 2 -- Salvation

by Viola_Laterra



Series: Choosing With Care [2]
Category: Good Omens (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-08 02:35:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20827976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Viola_Laterra/pseuds/Viola_Laterra
Summary: "He'd had some kind of half-hearted hope that even if he and Aziraphale couldn't run off somewhere together, at least they'd *end* together."...Expanding on Touching the Light, Facing the Dark (Crowley's POV)





	Choosing With Care 2 -- Salvation

When, exactly, had the bugger come to mean so much to him? Crowley wondered. Well, actually, it was only ever little things, that had added up over thousands of years. Like the way dirt built up to make soil. Or the straw that broke the camel's back. Or whatever.

The very first thing, though? Holding a wing out over his head as the first storm of Heaven came out of the East, as they stood above Eden, back near the beginning. Crowley had been touched, that time, that someone like Aziraphale would do something like that for someone like him, someone from the other side.

It took a while to realize that Aziraphale would do that sort of thing for anybody; it was just his nature to be Good like that. Somehow that still didn't erase the gratitude Crowley still felt for those little favors; or the sense that there was a kind of care, a tenderness, with which Aziraphale touched everything on Earth. Crowley didn't have that tenderness, of course, but there was a fondness that was underneath it, and Crowley did share that fondness for the Earth and all its creatures. 

And, increasingly, Crowley was realizing he had a little extra fondness for an angel who couldn't resist an epicurean delight. It wasn't quite enough to catch the attention of the head office, apparently, but as Crowley observed Aziraphale over the centuries, he rather thought that if the folks Upstairs knew all of what the angel did, he might have been in a fair amount of trouble, even before the two of them had made their arrangement.

And maybe that was how Aziraphale had come to mean so much to Crowley. Seeing how this angel loved the Earth just as he did... and probably a little too much for either of their own good. Maybe it was because as the thousands of years went by... Crowley came to believe that only Aziraphale could understand him. A bit of a surprise, that. That someone from the other side could understand him.

Of course Aziraphale would play at not understanding. But Crowley could see that he did, in spite of himself. Aziraphale had a way of trying to be prim, proper, saintly. But he was terrible at bluffing.

So, even when he'd tried to tell Crowley their arrangement was off, with Armageddon upon them... even then, Crowley hadn't believed him. Aziraphale was too upset to have really meant it. Though it did hurt, because Crowley had thought maybe they could run off together, bypass doom together. Even if it was a love for Earth that they had in common, he thought that surely they'd been together long enough that there was something beyond that... And so after he'd cooled down a bit, he'd gone looking for his friend. Aziraphale had a way of getting his knickers in a twist, but then repenting later. Crowley had figured to find him at the bookshop and apologize, and if they couldn't run off together to avoid the end of the world... at least they could spend their last few hours on Earth together. 

Finding that his best friend had died in a fire, or effectively died in a fire... that had been the final defeat. There had been no point, anymore. Might as well get as drunk as possible. And then Aziraphale had gone to the lengths of trying to possess someone in order to come back -- big no-no in Heaven, wasn't it! Well, Crowley told himself it was because Aziraphale cared so much for the world.

When Aziraphale had said it was a pity he couldn't share Crowley's body... the demon hadn't had time to let that sink in before they had to get back to trying to save the world. When he had a spare moment to think about it, before he'd come to the wall of fire on the M25, he was mostly just shocked that Aziraphale would even suggest it. Or that he'd thought of it in the first place, let alone said it to Crowley out loud.

Crowley thought that must have been why he'd made the suggestion at his flat the night of Armageddon. He'd often offered to Aziraphale to stay over, and the angel had always said no. But not that night, and Crowley could tell something was different about his friend. Maybe because he'd dropped the delusion that Heaven had any interest in caring for the Earth, or any interest in letting Aziraphale survive.

And he wasn't really that drunk, Crowley thought. But his friend was just... changed. So, what the Heaven, he proposed a little physical experimentation. Crowley'd honestly not thought about what kissing an angel would feel like. It was... familiar, because he could still remember what it had been like to be an angel himself. It felt a little... redemptive? Like the touch of his friend's lips was a kind of forgiveness in and of itself? And plenty pleasurable, for what it was, too. Aziraphale was smooth where he was rough, bright where he was dim, pliant where he was inflexible. Just how far does that go, he wondered?

Sitting at lunch with his friend after they'd successfully freed themselves from the rules of Heaven and Hell, Crowley watched as Aziraphale closed his eyes and savored a sip of the champagne he'd ordered. That was just the way he'd looked after their kiss... with Crowley's face, of course, but Crowley knew that look, even disguised by the wrong features. Delight, satisfaction, a little wonder... Well. There was plenty more time, now, for them to share many experiences. Damn good thing, too.


End file.
